Benioff and Weiss Clamp Down on Game of Thrones Spoilers

Game of Thrones is being particularly sensitive about spoilers and leaks ahead of Season 6. That’s only to be expected after what happened last year, when the first four episodes of Season 5 leaked ahead of the premiere date. Entertainment Weekly recently released a double-issue focused on Game of Thrones, and it provides some insight into the production’s thought process when it comes to spoilers. Here’s how EW’s James Hibberd, who had access to plenty of the people behind the show when writing EW’s ongoing series of articles, put it in the issue now on magazine stands:

"Fewer people received scripts this season. Press won’t get advanced screeners. HBO’s affiliates worldwide can expect to get content much closer to airtime. Even internally on the show, the ‘circle of trust’ was tightened — code words were routinely used to describe certain scenes or characters, even by the showrunners themselves."

Fewer people receiving scripts, content closer to airtime, and code words used for scenes and characters…HBO is not messing around. That’s a good thing, too, because for the first time in the show’s six-season history, it’s not adapting book material (or at least adapting much less of it), which means that fans who read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series can’t predict what’s coming. Instead, they’re clamoring for every scrap of information they can get, climbing over mountains and flying drones just to get a peek at what’s coming next.

Showrunner David Benioff likened protecting Game of Thrones to protecting one’s house from burglars:

"It’s like protecting your house. You make it as hard as possible for burglars in the hopes they look for some other house to burgle, but it’s impossible to ever completely secure your house."

That’s a fair observation. No matter how much security HBO hired to protect the sets, it seemed like, if anything, there were more leaks this season than before.

Ultimately, the question of spoilers comes down to how you, the individual, feel about it. Choosing to see a photo or description of a scene before it airs can be thrilling or devastating, depending on how you look at it. HBO, Benioff, and fellow showrunner Dan Weiss are doing what they can to protect the average Game of Thrones viewer from that random internet troll who spams spoiler-filled photos of Jon Snow riding a giant white horse and holding a fiery sword singing “I’m the king of the castle, and you’re the dirty rascal. Crash into me, crash into me!” Well, maybe not exactly that…but you get the point. We’ll see if their efforts pay off come April 24—let’s see who’s still surprised.

h/t Tech Insider